Control means



March 13, 1945.- B. A. SCHWARZ 2,371,267

' CONTROL MEANS Filed April 1, 1938 2 SheetsSheet l Zinventor v I Q Jg\J M y W I Gttorucgs March 13, 1945.

Filed April 1, 1938 B. A. SCHWARZ CONTROL MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented Mar. 13, 1945' UNlTED States Patent? orrics CONTROL MEANSBertram A. Schwarz, Kokomo, Ind; assignor to General Motors,Uorporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware ApplicationApril 1, 1938, Serial No. 199,541

Claims This invention relates to control means and more specifically tomeans for controlling theoperation of a rotatin part for indexing it tocertain angular positions.

In the use of rotating means, it is often necessary or essential to setsuch means at a plurality of angular positions for different operationof the device of which the rotating shaft is a part. One example of thismay be cited as that of a radio receiving set in which by turning theshaft carrying or directly connected to the tuning condensers, variousstations may be tuned in for reception. For illustration. of this typeof construction will be shown, although it is to be understood that myinvention may be applied for indexing any desired rotating shaft.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide indexing means forsetting a rotating shaft to any one of a series of angular positions.

It is a further objectof my invention to provide indexing means which issimple and rugged and easily applied.

With these and other objects in view, the construction of my inventionwill be best understood by reference to the following specification andclaims, the material of which is illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which: 7

Figure l is a front plan view of a radio with my invention appliedthereto.

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged front'vieW similar to panel Figure 1, partsbeing broken away and shown in shown. On this panel is mounted a loudspeaker d, an indicating tuning dial 6 and a manual knob 8 forordinarily operating the dial.

Above the dial there are provided a plurality of push buttons such as I0which may have indicia thereon indicating what particular station wouldbe obtained if the button were depressed. These buttons are mounted inopenings provided in the member 2 by flanging the adjacent material aredirected downwardly and whose purpose and utility will be more clearlydefined as the specification proceeds. Both the top and bottom plates itcarry parallel shafts 18, the ends of which are encased in suitablebearings 20 formed of the ends of the plate and upon each of theseshafts it there are provided a plurality of spaced rollers 22 saidrollers being provided in pairs'which are in vertical alignment.

Secured'between the top and bottom plate or brackets I l-there isprovided a substantially cylindrical spacing and supportin member 24,one being positioned adjacent either end of the assembly and beingsecured to the two plates by machine screws 28 extending through theplate and into the threaded ends of the spacing members 24. Ask; moreclearly shown in Figure 2, theupper screw 26 has between it and theplate I4 a spring washer 23 to bias the plate downwardly for a purposewhich will later become clear. The central part of; each of thesespacing members is provided with a horizontal opening 21 through whichextends a rotatable shaft 28, the two spacing members acting as bearingsfor the two opposite ends of the shaft.

Frictionally secured to rotate with the shaft at spaced intervals andcooperating and in alignment with the pairs of rollers, are a series ofpinions 30, said frictional engagement being assisted by spring washerssuch as 3! and to the end of the shaft extending from the assembly,which in 'Figure 3 vis the left-hand end, there is rigidly secured agear wheel 32. Any other suitable means for securing the pinion to theshaft but being releasable for relative motion during setting may beemployed, such as a common lock bar with threaded means to press thewhole assembly of pinions together, or the use of set screw collars, orthreaded chucks fastened to the individual pinions, and it is thereforedesired that applicant be not limited to his specific showing in thisinstance.

Parallel with and spaced from the shaft 28 is supported a counter-shaft34 by suitable supporting means and carried thereon is a gear 36 adaptedto mesh with the gear 32 and to be driven thereby. The other end of theshaft 34 has secured thereto a beveled gear 38 which meshes with amating beveled gear 40 mounted on a third shaft 42 at right angles tothe shaft 34 and ro tatably carried by a mounting bracket 44 secured toand depending from the lower plate M. This shaft 42 extends into and isrigidly secured to an shaft 60 is axially movable in the sleeved openingand is biased to its outer position by a leaf spring 62, one end ofwhich is rigidly fastened to the pin 54 and the other end forces theshaft out. This maintains the gears 56 and 52 normally, out ofengagement but if desired the operator can manually force this shaftinwardly and this intermeshing will allow a manual tuning of the dialand set since the opposite end of the shaft' 34 is directly connected tothe tuning shaft of the radio set.

Returning now to the construction for the automatic tuning, a rack suchas '64 is provided above the pinion 30 and adapted to engage the same sothat any longitudinal movement thereof will cause the pinion to rotate,said rack being supported so that it will ride over the rollers 22 ineachinstance and being guidedby thedepending portion IS inasmuch as itextends between the two sides thereof foreaoh operating button. There isalso provided below each pinion a second rack 56 which also engages apinion and is in the same vertical alignment with the pinion rollers andfirst rack. It is obvious that since the upper plate I4 is spring biasedthat it will tend to hold the racks in close contact with the pinion butwill allow movement in case of binding of the teeth.

In front of, or to the left as shown in Figure 2, there is applied tothe rear portion of the pin or stub shaft 68 carrying the button, H! aT-shaped plate l which is adapted to contact with the outer which theinner end ofithe shaft may project, said washer having pressed againstits'inner; surface a helical coiled compression spring '16,- theopposite end of which presses against the'inner surface of the T-shapedmemberv I0 tospring bias this member in its outward position.

Therefore, assuming that the racks'are in" the position shown in Figure2, when-pressure is applied to the knob ID the upper portion of the Twill force the rack 64 toward the rear which will. cause the pinion30.to rotate andat the same time cause the rack 66-to-move to the frontuntil it contacts the lower end of -theT which will give us our'definedindex point. jThisposition is best .shown in Figure'4 and as soon;asthispoint-has beenreached the button l0 may of course be released'andthe racks will remain in their: same set position. Each pair'of racksassociated with each of the buttons ID will of course be in differentpositions,-depending upon the setting of the station or indexpointdesired, so that whenanother button is depressed these racks will be'free to move to a-new position, depending upon thenew setting. But whenthey are pressed again they willalways come backto the same parallelbottoming-positionand give the same radial setting of the rotary shafton which the pinion 30 is mounted.

It will be remembered that the pinion 30 was described as beingfrictionally mounted on the shaft 28 and by this is meant that underordinary conditions the pinion 30 will rotate with and drive the shaft28 but if the shaft 28 is held against rotation the pinion 30 may bemoved relative thereto for initial setting purposes. In this way inorder to set the indexing buttons to desired stations the manual knob 8is depressed and the set tuned to the desired station. This knob is thenheld against rotation and to its innermost position and one of thebuttons 10 pushed inwardly until it reaches a position such as thatshown in ;'Figure4 when both racks are pressed against the buttons untilthey have all beenset for predetermined stations and when this occursany later depressing of the button will always return the setting of thetuning shaft of the set to that station through the gears 32,36 and theextension of the shaft 34 through to the tuning condensers which arewithin the panel 2.

It is obvious that I have provided a simple mechanical means forautomatically indexing the rotatable tuning shaft of a radio set andalso for altering thesetting or automatically tuning the set.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a rotatable shaft that may be setat a plurality of different radial positions, a plurality of axiallyspaced means mounted on the shaft for driving the same,

,a pair of reoiprocable members operably connected atdiametrically.oppositepoints to each of said axially spaced means and aplurality of means ,to contact. theend of one or.the other of thereciprocable members of a pair to moveboth into 45 7 endwise alignmentand contact with said means and index the shaft.

2. In a device of the class described, a shaft, a pinion mounted ontheshaft, a pair of racks mounted in diametrically opposed positionadjacent the pinion to engage the same and reciprocable means mounted toengage the end of one or the other of the racks to bring the ends ofboth racks into alignment to turn the pinion for indexing the shaft.

3.,In an indexing device, a shaft, a plurality of pinions frictionallymounted in spaced axial relation on the shaft, a pair of reciprocableracks mounted to contact the opposite faces of each pinion and meansadjacent each pair of racks to contact the end of one or the other rackof a .pair and bring both ends thereof into alignment thereby turningtheassociated pinion to index the shaft.

4. Inv a deviceof the class described, a main control: shaft,:gearingoperatively connected to the main control shaft, manually operable-meansnormally out of contact with the gearing but engageable therewith torotate the-shafta second shaft connected to and rotatable with the maincontrol shaft, pinions mounted on the secand shaft, reciprocable racksmounted to'engage means.

5. In an index control,a shaft, a control shaft therefor and connectedthereto, a plurality of pinions frictionally mounted on the controlshaft, reciprocating racks engaging the pinions to rotate the same, andreciprocable means engaging the racks to force them to a predeterminedposition, and spring biasing means to return the lastnamed means toinitial position afterthe rack has been actuated.v

. 6. In an index control, a shaft, acontrol shaft therefor, a pluralityof axially spaced frictionally mounted pinions on the control shaft, apair of oppositely disposed reciprocable racks associated with eachpinion whereby if one rack is reciprocated the pinion will be turned andthe other rack driven in the opposite direction and a plurality of pushbutton means each in alignment witha pair of racks whereby when the pushbutton means is depressed the rack extending outwardly will be depressedby the means and the movement will continue until the end of the otherrack also engages thepush button means and .carried by each plate,axially spaced rollers carried by the racks, said rollers being inalignment, bent-in portions on the plates in alignment with the rollers,a pair of opposed racks reciprocating in the guides formed by thebent-inportions and on the rollers, a shaft supported by the platesbetween the racks and pinions on the shafts to. cooperate with each pairof racks.

9. In an indexing device, a panel, a pair of spaced plates extendingfrom the panel, racks carried by each plate, axially spaced rollerscarried by the racks, said rollers being in alignment, bent-in portionson the plates in alignment with the rollers, a pair of opposed racksreciprocating in the guides formed by the bent-in portions and on therollers, a shaft supported by the plates between the racks and pinionson the shafts to cooperate "with each pair of racks and push but tonmeans to reciprocate against the ends of each pair of racks for indexpurposes, said means extendingthrough openings in the panel face.

10. In an index control, acontrol shaft, means adapted to be connectedto said control shaft for rotating said control shaft to or holding itin any one of a plurality of angular positions, a second shaftoperatively connected to said control shaft, a plurality of pinionsfrictionally mounted each of said pinions and means for moving saidracks to move individual pinions through agiven angle with respect tosaid second shaft when it is prevented from rotating by said first namedmeans and to index said control shaft to any one of a plurality ofangular positions when said first named means is disconnected.

'11. A mechanism for operating the tuning shaft of a radio condenser,.comprising a gear member operatively connected to said tuning shaft,racks meshing with said gear member at diametrically opposite pointsthereon, and means including a plunger member to operate said racks,said plunger member being provided with means for engaging said rackssuccessively upon operation of the plunger member.

12. A mechanism for operating the tuning shaft of a radio condenser,comprising a gear member 'operatively connected to said tuning shaft,racks meshing with said gear member at diametrically opposite pointsthereon, and means including a plunger member to operate said racks,said plunger member being provided with means for' engaging said rackssuccessively upon operation of the plunger member, one of said memberstion of said pinion, means including a longitudinally movable plungerfor operating said racks, said last means effecting a stoppage ofmovement of said racks when they arrive at a position in which theirends are in alignment.

14. In a radio control device, a rotatable con-- trol shaft,longitudinally reciprocable driving and stopping means operablyconnected to said shaft, means radially movable in one direction withrespect to the shaft, to engage the reciprocable means and move the sameto cause rotary movement of the shaft in either direction to one of aplurality of predetermined angular positions.

15. In a radio control device, a rotatable control shaft, longitudinallyreciprocable driving and stopping means adjustably and operablyconnected to said shaft, means radially movable in one direction withrespect to the shaft to engage the reciprocable means and move the sameto cause positions. BERTRAM A. SCHWARZ.

on said second shaft, reciprocable racks engaging

